‘Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov’s Revenge’ Is DOA

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Frima Studio is bringing the undead feast over to PC with the real time strategy game Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov’s Revenge. On a campaign that is eight chapters long, players will lead a horde of zombie troops as Orville Tycoon, a demented lab assistant who betrayed his former mentor, Dr. Archibald Brainhov, and set out to conquer the world. While Zombie Tycoon 2 has all the pieces needed to deliver a competent RTS experience a lack of cohesiveness holds it back from being as good as it could’ve been.

Zombie Tycoon 2 is extremely simplified. You only control two squads of zombies, plus a unique monster and a zombie-making mastermind; first Tycoon, and then midway through the game, Brainhov. Each squad has five zombies, which are replenished automatically as needed, there are no resources to collect or buildings to place and instead of two factions fighting over a battlefield, each mission is based on accomplishing a specific and very linear set of objectives. You’ll be able to choose from classic, slow-moving zombies or frantic, highly infected zombies with a variety of six unique zombie units such as the Scavenger Zombies from the Municipal Dump or the Engineer Zombies from the Hardware Store. The missions take place over sprawling, convoluted layouts which leads to the objectives being scattered haphazardly across each massive level, with little regard to logical flow. As a result you’ll find yourself shambling your way back to the side of the map you just came from to complete a new task more times than you’d like.

Zombie Tycoon 2 does have some charm going for it though and that is on display as you move through the streets of Finkleville with your zombie unit. Capturing certain buildings like hardware stores, martial arts theaters, and sports centers will allow you to convert your zombies into more powerful units with special abilities. For example the zombie engineers can operate machinery whereas zombie scouts can travel undetected and regain health when not moving by burrowing into the ground. I noticed the zombie engineers capture buildings especially quick, the brawlers hit like a truck but move slowly, and self-regenerating scouts excel at guerrilla-style hit-and-run tactics. The main issue that plagues Zombie Tycoon 2 is the lack of a comprehensive flow overshadows anything good the game does. You’ll waste a ton of time backtracking and that becomes tedious after a while.

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Zombie Tycoon 2 had a few good elements going for it but ultimately it fails to deliver the depth and strategy RTS games are known for. Kids might get a kick out of Zombie Tycoon 2 but the more experienced RTS player will probably come away unfulfilled.—written by DJRhude (@DJRhude)